I’m consider myself to be a kind of hybrid “Liberal-Libertarian”. The problem is that both words are being destroyed by their respective groups and I’m slowly finding it harder to find terms that I can describe my politics with that don’t piss off half the world…

Both groups are represented by nut-jobs:

Pseudo-Libertarians like the Tea Party make me cringe — and represent none of what I’d consider to the be the core principles of Libertarianism.

Similarly, the Progressive-Left PC crowd doesn’t represent what I consider honest liberalism at all — they vilify the word “freedom”, and treat free speech a tool of the enemy, rendering the word liberal meaningless.

In both cases, these groups represent the OPPOSITE of what the underlying philosophies are supposed to be standing for — and yet they are the canonical examples of their respective groups in the eyes of everyone else.

When I’m in a group of liberals attempting to explain my own ethics and politics, I find myself having to use words other than “libertarian” to describe myself, or else they get the wrong idea (because of the fools mentioned above) believing me to be a borderline racist or hater of the poor — rather ironic considering my background…

Similarly, when I’m in a group of fellow libertarians, I have to downplay the word “liberal” because it conjures up images of screaming self-righteous political-correctness police who brand everyone with a different point of view some kind of bigot.

This kind of shit is pathetic, and is continually pushing folk like myself — a growing minority — away from each group for fear of being associated with angry nut-jobs.